Building the 3.6m Telescope, 1967

The ESO 3.6m Telescope was commissioned in 1977, and completely upgraded in 1999. In 2004 a new secondary mirror cell was manufactured, improving considerably the image quality of the telescope. In 2007 the control system of the lateral pads was upgraded. The image quality of the telescope is better than 0.2 arcsec at Zenith. The telescope has a horseshoe/fork mounting, and an interchangeable top unit allowing the secondary mirror to be changed from a F/8 to a F/35 Cassegrain focus. The pointing error is about 5 arcsec RMS. The pointing is limited to 70 deg. zenithal distance, and 5.5h HA, but a small region under the pole is reachable. Operation and maintenance of the telescope is the responsibility of ESO.
Since April 2008 HARPS, using the F/8 Cassegrain focus, is the only instrument available at the 3.6m.

The telescope is at a geographical location of 70.7345W, 29.2584S, and an altitude of 2400 metres above sea level.

REOSC, the Optical Department of the SAGEM Group, produces many of the mirrors for ESO's fine telescopes.

Crédit:

ESO

À propos de l'image

Identification:ehpa-4-1967-008-cc
Type:Photographique
Date de publication:26 avril 2013 10:08
Taille:3139 x 2055 px

À propos de l'objet

Nom:ESO 3.6-metre telescope
Type:Unspecified : Technology : Observatory : Telescope
Catégorie:Premises

Image Formats

Grand JPEG
2,1 Mio
JPEG taille écran
296,0 Kio

Zoomable


Fonds d'écran

1024x768
340,6 Kio
1280x1024
544,3 Kio
1600x1200
773,6 Kio
1920x1200
930,1 Kio
2048x1536
1,2 Mio